Another week has gone so quickly as it does this time of year.
Dan spent the first part of the week away on his second block release of the Rural Traineeship, which gave me time to finish the fallow spray program prior to sowing. I always aim to start sowing during the second week of April. Normally the start of sowing is a pretty steady affair, with lots of time spent and modest results to show for it- getting everything in place and the machinery working as it should, all takes time.
This year was no exception. We managed one day of actual sowing in the week…
We start with TT Canola in our sowing program. Yet no matter how many years we have sown canola, we have always found getting the rate to the desired level of 2.8-3.0kg/ha to be a challenge. The size of the canola seed and the roughness of the paddock seem to cause small variations in the actual rate. As a result, until we get a reasonable amount sown and build up our confidence, it is a slow process of sowing and checking seed quantity used.
So Wednesday was spent sowing a bit, stopping, checking, sowing a bit more, checking some more. In addition to this, this was Dans first day of driving the tractor airseeder combination. He did well, because it is a large, long and complicated machine. Watching air pressures, checking for blockages, avoiding power poles and watching the sowing depth all takes concentration.
On Thursday and Friday though, another front had arrived in our area bringing with it some more rain. In fact is was good timing, because for the first time in a while, we had all the family at home for a long weekend – and being too wet to get out on the paddock, I wasn’t tempted at all to do any farmwork. 🙂
All in all then – a very good week and a great weekend with friends and family.
The next week appears to be a week of fine weather, so it will be full steam ahead with the sowing program.
Cheers,
NeilK